The illegal incarceration of Max Quirin and five other former executive-board members of Guatemala’s national health-care institute sounds like banana-republic justice. But much of the responsibility for the state crimes perpetrated against these innocent people lies with the U.S. Congress.

Congress funds almost half the budget of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG. The commission, created in 2006 to combat crime and corruption, is running roughshod over law-abiding Guatemalans.